Mote board and cleaner for gins



March 2, 1937.

J. A. STREUN MOTE BOARD AND CLEANER FOR GINS John A. tlreun 3mm FiledMarch 24, 1934 Em 235M Patented Mar. 2, 1937 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICEJohn Arnold Streun, Sherman, Tex., assignor to Hardwicke-Etter Company,Sherman, Tex., a

corporation Application March 24, 1934, Serial No. 717,147

Claims.

My invention relates to attachments for cotton gins for use in ginningcotton.

The device has particular application to means for preventing the motesin the cotton from contaminating the lint. In the ginning of cotton thelint is drawn around by the saws and delivered to the suction nozzle bymeans of which the lint is removed from the saws. If the lint isaccompanied by motes, as is very common 1 especially in bolly cotton,the motes are liable to be thrown off by the saw and sucked back intothe outlet nozzle. To prevent-this, a mote board is employed.

It is an object of my invention to provide a mote board which is adaptedto conform closely to the curvature of the gin saws so as to betterprevent the drawing of the motes back into the lint.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a mote board having arounded upper edge upon which the cotton may be easily removed so as notto catch on the board and clog the space between the board and the saw.

It is a further object of the invention to be able to adjust theposition of the mote board relative to the saw to accommodate the boardfor different qualities of cotton which is ginned.

It is also an object to provide means whereby a material which tends tolodge about the mote board can be removed therefrom during the operationof the gin without danger to the operator.

I desire to provide a brush which may be swung by the operator acrossthe mote board in such manner as to dislodge any material tending toclog the same.

In the drawing herewith I have shown a central vertical section througha gin upon which my invention has been employed.

The gin illustrated in the drawing is intended to represent the usualgin employed in ginning operations. There is a frame 2, supported uponlegs I and having an outer housing 3 protecting the interior workingparts. Mounted in the frame is a shaft 4 upon which the gin saws 5 aremounted, said shaft having hearings in the side portions of the frameand rotatable by the usual means in the counterclockwise directionindicated by the arrow.

The cotton is fed to the gin saws through a gin breast 6 and is carriedinto contact with the gin saws by the picker roll 1. Below the pickerroll is a hull conveyer 8, which carries from the gin breast the hullsfrom which the cotton lint has been removed.

The cotton is caught by the gin saws and The cotton lint carried by thesaws past the 10 ginning ribs is moved downwardly past the air nozzle l4into the suction tube l5 through which it is carried from the gin. Themotes which are carried around with the lint by the gin saws are thrownoff to the rear into the chamber l6 and dropped therefrom into thetrough I 1, from which they are carried out of the gin by the moteconveyer l8.

My invention is in the provision of a mote H board I9 to the rear of thegin saw and mounted 20 at the upper end of the nozzle l4 so as toprevent motes thrown from the gin saw from being sucked back in throughthe action of the air nozzle. Mote boards have previously been mountedadjacent gin saws in somewhat this position but they are not adapted tolie closely adjacent the saw and to that extent are somewhatineificient. In order to conform to the curvature of the saw I havecurved the mote board I9 so that its upper end and the inner surface maybe close to the saw without interfering with the passage of the lintdownwardly to the discharge chute. As shown in the drawing, this moteboard is mounted upon a rod 20, which extends through the side walls ofthe housing and the mote board is thereby adapted to be swung toward andaway from the gin saws.

The swinging of the mote board is accomplished by means of a crank arm2| mounted at one end of the rod 20 and extending upwardly forconnection at 22 with an operating lever 23, which acts as a pull rod tomove said crank arm. On the lower side of the lever 23 is a series ofnotches 24 which are adapted to receive a plate 26 on the frame of thegin and to hold the lever in any adjusted position. Said lever is formedwith a handle 21 extending outside the gin and within reach of theoperator. It will be noted that by use of this lever the mote board maybe swung to different adjusted positions relative to 50 the saw.

It is also to be noted that the upper edge 28 is rounded so as toprevent stringy cotton from engaging thereon and thus to some extentpreventing the cotton from lodging around the up- 55 per end of themoteboard and between the same and the saw. By the use of this type of moteboard the passage of motes downwardly with the lint is largely avoided.

In cotton having stringy material therein it is practically impossibleto prevent some engaging of the cotton over the upper end of the moteboard and furthermore with the curved outer surface shown in myconstruction of the board, motes may engage on the rearward side of theboard in the mote box. In order to avoid this and prevent the necessityof having to remove the material from the board by hand, I have provideda brush for cleaning the mote board when necessary. This brush will nowbe described.

I form a cross shaft 29 to the rear of the mote box and upon this shaftis supported a pair of swinging arms 30, one at each end of the box.Toward the inner ends of these arms I mount brushes 3|, which are heldupon a cross bar 32 by means of a plate 33. It will be understood thatthe bristles are clamped in a recess on the arm and are held in positionprojecting forwardly as shown in the drawing. Mounted also upon theshaft 29 is a pair of crank arms 34 and 35, which extend upwardly and tothe rear of the shaft. On the crank arms 34 I connect at 36 a pull rod31, which extends forwardly to a position outside of the gin where it isprovided with a handle 38 by which it can be operated to swing the shaft29 and with it the brush. Upon the arm 35 I connect a tension spring 39,which extends rearwardly and is secured at 40 to the frame of the gin.This spring tends to hold the shaft in position with the brush elevatedas shown in full lines in the drawing.

The brush, together with the arms upon which they are mounted is spacedforwardly so that when the arms are swung downwardly through themanipulation of the rod 31 the brush will be swung across the rearwardside of the mote board l9 when said mote board is in its forwardposition. When the pull rod is released the spring 39 will swing thearms with the brush back upwardly, again moving across the mote board soas to sweep therefrom any material clogging around the board.

By means of this brush I am enabled to clear material from the moteboard without danger to the operator. The usual method employed inclearing material from the board involves the use of a wire or stickwhich must be inserted by the operator in through the side of thehousing to scrape the material from the board. This is an exceedinglydangerous operation and may involve serious injury to the hands of theoperator. With my brush, however, it will be possible to clean the boardquickly and conveniently without any danger whatever to the operator ofthe gll'l.

The advantages of my improved mote board and the means employed forcleaning the same enable me to conform the board to the shape of the gincylinders so as to prevent the motes from entering with the lint withouttending to clog the saws, and further allows the easy and ready removalof the material from the board in case there is a tendency to clog.

What is claimed is:

1. In a cotton' gin the combination of a mote board positioned adjacentthe gin saws, and means including a swinging frame within the gin, abrush on said frame, said frame being operable from the exterior of thegin to remove materials clinging to said mote board.

2. In a cotton gin the combination of a mote board positioned adjacentthe gin saws, and means within the gin and manually operable from theexterior of the gin to be swung upwardly to remove materials clinging tosaid mote board, said means including a brush adapted for reciprocatorymovement past said board.

3. In a cotton gin having gin saws and a mote board, means to displacematerial clinging to said board, said means including a spring actuatedlever to brush by the mote board while the gin is in operation.

4. In a cotton gin a cleaner for mote boards comprising means to movepast the mote board to clean off the material clinging thereto, a handleto actuate said means, and a spring means to normally hold said firstmeans in an inoperative position.

5. In a cotton gin having gin saws, the combination of a mote boardpositioned closely adjacent the rearward side of said saws in uniform-1y spaced relation thereto, and means operable to be moved upwardlyalong the side of said board and brush material from the upper end ofsaid board when desired, said means including a shaft, arms thereon, abrush on said arms, and a crank on said shaft.

JOHN ARNOLD STREUN.

